"High-functioning Down syndrome"

The other day, my friend mentioned she knew a woman who was raising her 11-year-old granddaughter with Ds, and she called her "high functioning." This sounded wrong to me, but I wasn't sure how to correct her, or if it really is appropriate wording. I wasn't insulted by her, but I felt like I should educate her for future reference, especially if she's going to be in my son's life. I tried to look it up, but I couldn't really find appropriate answers. (Yahoo answers is NOT the place the look. For anything, really.)

Comments (21)

Some people hate this term, others not so much. I personally do not correct others on their language (with the exception of the R word and even then I choose my battles wisely depending on the circumstance).

I don't have a problem with the term. We use it in my school to describe a students functioning level - it is NOT used in our school to describe intelligence, rather how well a student is able to care for their needs. Mostly our students who are not functioning well have pretty severe mental health issues.

It was also to describe my father after his series of strokes. He went from a high functioning man to someone who was so low functioing that he requires help to perform all the tasks of sustaining his life.

For the most part, I beleive that educating others does not involve correcting or lecturing. Just modelling how I speak to and treat others.

Thanks! You're right, I shouldn't "correct" people, maybe that was the wrong way to phrase it. It was more of a heads up that I thought I should give her. But maybe I'm making a big deal of nothing. These are new waters I'm wading in!

I try not to beat people over the head about it and do understand the thinking behind its use, but I find that term offensive. It's never really based in any kind of universal truth or objective framework. It is sometimes used inappropriately from ego boosting to program exclusion. I just don't like it.

Weird, I have been having a similar experience over the past couple days - bringing my 13 month old girl with DS (dear son) to the hospital and prenatal appts and professionals like nurses and lactation consultants keep asking "so she has a mild case of downs?" I didn't know what to say, and had other things on my mind at the time so I just kind of brushed it off. Not even sure why they brought it up, if it was in my records somewhere or if they were just observing. Weird.

Oh my.....it does get tiresome, doesn't it? At first I was pleased people thought my kids were "high functioning". Eventually I learned enough to tell people, "he/she is pretty typical". And of course we all know each of our kids is a superstar.

It seems appropriate from a "medical" standpoint. It doesn't speak for intelligence but what they can do in regards for themselves more so. In the case of a stroke patient we would refer to their "residual deficits" meaning what they are no longer about to do. I feel like "high functioning" probably means different things to different people who may take offense but for me I don't mind it.

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M+B 2011

August 3/22/01, London 1/08/13, Elliott 6/24/14 (t21), & last and final EDD 7/6/16

After she said "high functioning," she went on to tell me the different activities that she participates in. Which.... if any human participated in several activities, I'd assume they were pretty good at functioning...

Weird, I have been having a similar experience over the past couple days - br...

Posted
05/20/2015

Weird, I have been having a similar experience over the past couple days - bringing my 13 month old girl with DS to the hospital and prenatal appts and professionals like nurses and lactation consultants keep asking "so she has a mild case of downs?" I didn't know what to say, and had other things on my mind at the time so I just kind of brushed it off. Not even sure why they brought it up, if it was in my records somewhere or if they were just observing. Weird.

I felt like something similar happened to me when I took my son for his hearing test. The women administering it kept telling me about these videos of different people with Down syndrome that they saw online, and what can be accomplished these days. And I'm just like, "Yeah...." I wasn't upset or anything, they were genuinely nice, but I kind of felt like maybe they were trying to make me feel better? It just felt... awkward. But who knows? Maybe if I were on the other side, I'd have done the same thing.

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